2000 Factory report to club AGM offers commitment to total quality

‘Our goal: a fault-free caravan’

May we first of all send you all our good wishes for the continuing good health and prosperity of the club.  We thank you for all your continued support throughout the past year, and we are sorry that we have been unable to send a representative of the factory to speak to you personally this morning because of long standing commitments at this time.

This year, for a change we have prepared the report by grouping various important issues which have affected Fleetwood and we shall begin with the Heritage.  We feel sure that you will be only too well aware that the decision, made during 1999 to develop a flagship Marque (the Heritage range) has proved to be a tremendous success.  The initial 1999 build of Heritages was set at 39.  This was shown to be far too modest and final production figures were closer to 140 Heritages for the year.  Slowly but surely, Fleetwood Caravans has become the manufacturer that people are talking about, and the competition has started to take notice too.  At the Hull show at least three other manufacturers sent their design teams to sketch and photograph Fleetwood Heritage layouts.  Their “spies” were out in such numbers that we were compelled to remove them from the caravans so that the general public could get a look!  The results were of course obvious and now all these manufacturers have produced 600-EB, ES and 550 imitations.

What the papers say ….

This year is proving to be equally successful, with much greater interest being taken in Fleetwood models by the popular caravan press.  Our models are now being put to the test more than ever before with pleasing results, the Colchester 450-2EB went head to head against the Explorer group and there have been excellent test reports on the Colchester 500-EK, Heritage 600-ES and Heritage 550-ES.  For the first time there has been extensive advertising in The Caravan Club Magazine, which has itself brought a completely different customer profile.

Sales and awards

Sales at all the shows have gone well.  At Earls Court we again upset the big boys by winning for the very first time The Caravan Industry Award with the Heritage 600-ES being acclaimed Class A Tourer of the year, whilst the Heritage 550-ES won the Whale award for innovation.  But the awards did not end there for at the NEC the Heritage 550-ES claimed Practical Caravan’s prize for Best Family Tourer in its class with the Colchester 500-EK a close runner-up.  Fleetwood has always been successful in achieving volume sales at the major exhibitions and this year, the total in from that sales source was 416. 

Dealerships

We are pleased to report that our dealership network is growing.  However quality dealerships are hard to find and we are being rather selective, as well as endeavouring at the same time not to create conflict by appointing dealerships too close together.  The appointment of Country Choice Caravans in Tewkesbury and Davan Caravans at Bristol are particularly important new franchises. 

Quality

The drive for quality continues and although many of you who purchased new caravans within the last twelve months may question this, we are only too well aware that this relentless evolution in quality enhances not merely the Fleetwood name but strengthens public awareness of our range, making prospective purchasers of “used” vans seek out a Fleetwood for closer inspection.  Clearly, there is and has to be much room for improvement and we shall work on this constantly.  We are particularly sad that some of you have experienced problems which frankly should not have occurred and we are only too well aware that these are extremely frustrating.  We hope that you believe that through the dealerships we have responded quickly. 

Capital Investment

With sales continuing to climb it has been necessary to purchase another CNC router machine centre (a shape and hole cutting machine) for the wood mill.  This should ease some of the production backlog and make the factory more efficient in this area.  We shall also be making our own interior doors next year. 

The future

OK then, sales are good, the dealer network is growing, capital investment continues, and the product is getting better.  However, all of that is well and good and Awards are very nice, but to us the most important vote of confidence comes from you the Fleetwood owner.  We may not always so what you want, but we always listen, we are forever asking questions: Does the product do what it claims to do? Why do we do it that way?  What can be done that will make it better?  But, the most important question to ask is ‘Would a present Fleetwood owner choose Fleetwood again?’ 

Year Zero project

Fleetwood is absolutely committed to quality.  That is why new systems of production, new methods to ensure that we build quality are being introduced and a whole new way of thinking is gradually taking hold.  The foundation upon which this is based is very simple and uncompromising, namely that it is Fleetwood’s intention to build caravans without fault.  Old timers in the industry say that it can’t be done.  Fleetwood’s answer is ‘It can, it must, it will.’

It is only by this constant soul-searching that we at Fleetwood can possibly hope to continue to drive the product forward, to win the greatest accolade, to hear a Fleetwood owner say ‘I love my Fleetwood’ and to provide you the Fleetwood owner with a caravan in which we both can continue to be truly proud.

Thank you for buying Fleetwood.